Give Blood: All The Reasons You Should Become a UK Blood Donor

The NHS Blood & Transplants division has revealed that blood donations have dropped by 40 per cent, which is worrying.

The 40 per cent figure comes from the number of donors in the last year, compared with 10 years ago - which The Guardian claims is due to people taking exotic holidays and getting tattoos, which are both activities that ban people from donating. Apparently to keep the blood bank at safe levels the number of volunteers needs to increase by 70 per cent - that's 204,000 people. Yikes.

The Graun has also revealed that - worryingly - 13 per cent of people surveyed believed that it was possible to create "synthetic blood" without needing donations, because that's what they could do on the TV show True Blood. Presumably they think that the blood is artificial blood is sent to the people who need it by using the Transporter on the USS Enterprise.

With this in mind, here at Gizmodo we think it is very important that you give blood. So in true viral-clickbait style, here is a "listicle" outlining the reasons why you should definitely give blood.

All the reason to give blood

1) You will help save lives.

Honestly, that's really it. It is super easy, and super important.

2) Seriously, you'll help save lives.

People need blood, and thanks to the miracle of science we can provide it safely and easily. You don't have to be Superman to save lives (he's probably banned anyway due to the aforementioned exotic travel rules).

3) What sort of monster are you if you don't want to save lives?

You can find your nearest place to give blood on the NHS website, so go over there now and have a look.